to extreme mifery, and to the most abject ftate of degradation.

It feems that the prepofterous marriages between uncles and nieces, nephews and aunts, which fo peculiarly diftinguimed the royal line of Portugal, and which custom had rendered too familiar, began at length to threaten the extinction of the houfe of Braganza, through the faiJure of iffue to which thefe marriages were fo naturally liable; and this alarming confideration, along with the defife of cancelling all paft jealoufies, and cementing friendship and good neighbourhood with Spain, were the motives which led to the measure in question. For the marriage between the prince of Brazil and his aunt, not having hitherto proved propitious, and the profpect of iffue from it being now probably hopeless, it became neceffary that his brother Don Juan fhould in time procure a wife that feemed capable of supplying that defect.

Italy has fuffered the hard fortune of late years, of being more distinguished by volcanoes, earthquakes, and the calamities incident to thofe awful and deftructive phenomena of nature, than by thofe great actions, or thofe fplendid exertions of talents and fcience, which have in fuch early ages, and at fuch remote periods, either exhibited her as the fcourge and terror, or as the inftructrefs, civilizer, and admiration of mankind. She is not, however, even at the prefent day, deftitute of fcience, philofophy, or of learned men, who dedicating their time and labours to the most useful tu dies and beneficial purfuits, afford honourable teltimonies that her an cient genius is by no means extinguifhed; and that whatever, in the viciffitudes of fashion, difpofition, and

things, the may have loft in the practical arts, has been amply fupplied in other refpects not lefs ufeful.

It was little to be expected that the prefent degradation of the papacy, and that unexampled lofs of power and refource which the court of Rome has within less than an age suftained, fhould have been dignified by a public labour of fuch magnitude and utility, as would have done honour to ancient Rome in the days of her pride and glory. The prefent pontiff, Pius the VIth, has, however, determined to render his name and age memorable, by gallantly undertaking, and bravely perfevering in the Herculean task of draining the Pontine marshes; an undertaking the more meritorious, and indeed glorious, as feveral of his predeceffors, as well as of the western emperors, had already failed in the attempt; which had accordingly been long confidered as hopelefs.

The pope has been engaged for fome years, with unwearied perfeverance, and at an immenfe expence, in the profecution of this defign; and the fuccefs with which it has already been attended, feems to warrant an affurance that it will not be abandoned. It is, however, to be wifhed, that the man who had courage and generosity, fo late in life, to venture upon fo great an undertaking, and nobly to apply his wealth to the prefent and future benefit of mankind, may have the pleafure of feeing its accomplishment, and of reaping, without diminution, that glory which he fo amply merits. The Appian Way, which had for fo many ages been loft, and buried under a deep morafs, has at length been recovered, clear

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ed, repaired, and will foon be rendered paffable, houses being already built for the convenience of travellers, and facility of commerce, and a time fixed for the poft to pass that way. But thefe are only a fmall part of the benefits to be derived from this admirable improve ment. Befides recovering a large tract of fertile land to the ufe of the public, which has fo long been only the noisome fource of stench and peftilential exhalations, and greatly, adorning and beautifying the face of the country, it will in time have the happy effect of contributing greatly to purify the air, and of tending to prevent those dangerous and fatal diforders, which, as regularly as the lealon, every fummer infeft for many miles the environs of Rome. It will likewife tend more remotely to a fimilar draining an improvement of the Campania in general, and of rendering it again the feat of population and culture, if not of beauty, which it was in the hands of the ancient Romans. Upon the whole it will, if completed, be a work truly royal, and worthy the emulation of kings!

Some differences which fubfifted between the courts of Naples and Madrid, originating entirely in private and family matters and jeaJoufies, and feeming now to be entirely done away, do not require any particular notice. The young king felt and difplayed the right he had to an emancipation from direction, and to think and act as an independent fovereign, fooner than was probably wished or expected; nor does he perhaps pay all that regard to foreign views and interefts, which thole grown old in fyftem, and habituated to a certain political creed, from which no de

viation was to be admitted, might think abfolutely neceffary. That increase of courage, force, and depredation, which has of late fo eminently and dangerously diftinguished the piratical ftates of Barbary, and fo greatly and juftly alarmed all the chriftian nations bordering on the Mediterranean, has occafioned the king of Naples to pay an attention to the forming of a marine force, which had not been before known in this newly-revived monarchy, although fo peculiarly demanded by its fituation.

The Neapolitans can now boat more than one fhip of the line, of their own conftruction, befides feve ral good frigates, and a confiderable force in gallies, and the other veffels peculiar to that fea; and can farther boast of having behaved with diftinguished courage, and acquiring no fmall honour in the laft attacks made by Spain upon Algiers. The king feems himself to have a peculiar difpofition to naval affairs, which may be gathered not only from the marked diftinction with which he has conftantly treated thofe British commanders of royal fhips or fquadrons that have arrived in the bay of Naples, but from the curious attention with which he examined the construction and manner of working of their veffels, and the evident pleafure with which he has regarded their various evolutions.

We have heretofore had occafion more than once to pay due praise to the grand duke of Tuscany, for the many excellent regulations which he had introduced into the government of that dutchy, with refpect to the adminiftration both of eccle fiaftical and fecular affairs; and have particularly applauded the reforms which he had made in the

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difpenfation of civil and criminal juftice, and the mitigation of penal punishments. This difpofition continues with unabating, and, perhaps, increafing force; and there is no difpofition which requires a more cautious guard or conftant check upon it, than that which leads to reform, for it eafily and imperceptibly grows into a paffion for innovation; becomes capricions or cruel, as circumftance or oppofition, the infirmity of nature, or obftinacy of age, may chance to give it a bias; will at length facrifice the inherent rights, or deareft feelings of mankind, to the petty gratification of rounding a fyftem, or the hope of framing fome clockwork establishment of things, which their nature forbids to exift; and thus may end in the most abfolute and deplorable tyranny of mind and body.

The failure of fo many of his brother, the emperor's, multifarious projects, and the ill-will and ridicule of which a much greater number were fo abundantly productive, and particularly the oppofition made by that part of his fubjects, which had been the longest inured to hereditary defpotifm, to the edict for confuming the dead bodies of their friends in lime, and which, notwithftanding his vaft power, and a perfeverance, which is fuppofed to be closely allied to obftinacy, he found it neceffary to recal, might have afforded fufficient warning to the grand duke, not to be too hafty in violating the common feelings, and general opinions, or even prejudices of mankind.

Yet, without regard to thefe coniderations or examples, the inhabitants of the ancient and beautiful city of Florence are compelled eternally to refign the dead bodies of

their dearest friends, within a fhort limited term after their deceafe, without any diftinction of age, fex, beauty, rank, or quality, into the rude and vulgar hands of that lowest clafs of mankind, who could alone be found to fubmit to fo odious an employment. All the circumftances relative to this difpofal of the dead, are odious and horrid in the extreme. A machine, upon the conftruction of a waggon, and large enough to contain all the dead of the city, calls about midnight; the body must be delivered stark naked, and is thrown headlong into this common receptacle, amidst the carcafes of all forts, and in all states of diftemper, which it already holds; fo that the grave is not neceffary in this inftance to level all distinction: the friends and relations can neither fee, hear, or know any thing farther of the loved husband, wife, child, or parent. The horrid waggon is driven in the dark to a walled cemetery, at a few miles diftance, where the bodies are thrown promifcuoufly into one common grave: the thief, the murderer, and those whofe bodies are already putrid with the moft loathfonte diftempers, being thus indifcriminately blended with learning, virtue, courage, the unfpotted matron of high rank, and the modeft delicate virgin, whofe opening beauties feem yet fcarcely faded."

Such an outrage upon all the feelings and habits of humanity, upon thofe mournful duties and attentions to the remains of the deceafed, which time and piety had rendered facred in almost all ages and countries, to the laws of decorum and decency, and to the delicacy of the fofter fex, has feldom been attempted. The dreadful enor-.

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'HE republic of Venice feems for fome time paft to have been rather departing from that quiefcent and pacific fyftem, which has been fo peculiarly her characteriftic fince the beginning of the prefent century. Befides her late quarrel with the Dutch, which, confidering the extreme obftinacy, and a fort of fifterly captioufnefs and jealoufy which appeared in both the parties, would not have been eafily qualified, if the ill humour of one had not been fuddenly arrested by immediate and imminent danger, fhe has ever fince been engaged in an expenfive and unprofitable maritime war with the regency of Tunis. We do not recollect that the occafions for this war were greater, or the offences given of a deeper dye, than those which ufually occur in tranfactions with the African ftates. The Venetian fleet have, however, repeatedly infulted the coafts of that kingdom, have cannonaded and bombarded, with lefs or greater effect, feveral of the Tunifian ports or maritime fortreffes, and have particularly fucceeded in defroying the defences of Sfax, and laying the town in afhes.

Although from that commercial difpofition which fo fingularly diftinguishes the ftate of Tunis, a war of this nature is infinitely more pre

judicial to it than it would to any other of the Barbary powers, yet the obftinacy of the dey has hitherto appeared unconquerable. He had laid it down at the beginning, as a principle never to be departed from, that a full indemnification, on the fide of Venice, for all the ex-pences he had been put to in arming and defence, and every lofs which he or his fubjects fuftained in the war, fhould be the fine qua non, the leading preliminary to a peace; and without which no terms of accommodation can ever be received or listened to. To this refolution he has adhered with the utmost inflexibility; and the republic is in the ftrange fituation, that every fuccefs fhe gains only ferves to render the conclufion of peace the more impracticable. Their admiral Emo, has, however, gained confiderable credit and applaufe by his conduct and exertions, and their marine. fome reputation and experience in this war. Perhaps the old lion of St. Mark is only whetting his claws and trying his ftrength in fmall adventure, in order to prepare himself for fome harder and greater encounter, which he forefees the probable occafion for in that quarter of Europe. It is indeed bable, confidering the economical difpofition of the republic, that the

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